Computing the boxicity of a graph by covering its complement by cointerval graphs

If $\text{F}$ is a family of sets, its intersection graph has the sets in $\text{F}$ as vertices and an edge between two sets if and only if they overlap. This paper investigates the concept of boxicity of a graph G, the smallest n such that G is the intersection graph of boxes in Euclidean n-space. The boxicity, b(G), was introduced by Roberts in 1969 and has since been studied by Cohen, Gabai, and Trotter. The concept has applications to niche overlap (competition) in ecology and to problems of fleet maintenance in operations research. These applications will be described briefly. While the problem of computing boxicity is in general a difficult problem (it is NP-complete), this paper develops techniques for computing boxicity which give useful bounds. They are based on the simple observation that b(G)≤k if and only if there is an edge covering of $\text{G}$ by spanning subgraphs of $\text{G}$, each of which is a cointerval graph, the complement of an interval graph (a graph of boxicity ≤1.).     

Minimum number of edges in graphs that are both P2- and Pi-connected

A simple graph with n vertices is called P_i-connected if any two distinct vertices are connected by an elementary path of length i. In this paper, lower bounds of the number of edges in graphs that are both P₂- and P_i-connected are obtained. Namely if $\text{i?}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(n+1)}$, then |E(G)|?((4i?5)/(2i?2))(n?1), and if $\text{i >}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(n+ 1)}$, then |E(G)|?2(n?1) apart from one exeptional graph. Furthermore, extremal graphs are determined in the former.     

Classes of orderings of measures and related correlation inequalities. I. Multivariate totally positive distributions

A function f(x) defined on $\text{X}$ = $\text{X}$₁ × $\text{X}$₂ × … × $\text{X}$_n where each $\text{X}$_i is totally ordered satisfying f(x ∨ y) f(x ∧ y) ≥ f(x) f(y), where the lattice operations ∨ and ∧ refer to the usual ordering on $\text{X}$, is said to be multivariate totally positive of order 2 (MTP₂). A random vector Z = (Z₁, Z₂,…, Z_n) of n-real components is MTP₂ if its density is MTP₂. Classes of examples include independent random variables, absolute value multinormal whose covariance matrix Σ satisfies ?DΣ^?1D with nonnegative off-diagonal elements for some diagonal matrix D, characteristic roots of random Wishart matrices, multivariate logistic, gamma and F distributions, and others. Composition and marginal operations preserve the MTP₂ properties. The MTP₂ property facilitate the characterization of bounds for confidence sets, the calculation of coverage probabilities, securing estimates of multivariate ranking, in establishing a hierarchy of correlation inequalities, and in studying monotone Markov processes. Extensions on the theory of MTP₂ kernels are presented and amplified by a wide variety of applications.     

On subgraph number independence in trees

For finite graphs F and G, let N_F(G) denote the number of occurrences of F in G, i.e., the number of subgraphs of G which are isomorphic to F. If $\text{F}$ and $\text{G}$ are families of graphs, it is natural to ask then whether or not the quantities N_F(G), F∈$\text{F}$, are linearly independent when G is restricted to $\text{G}$. For example, if $\text{F}$ = {K₁, K₂} (where K_n denotes the complete graph on n vertices) and $\text{F}$ is the family of all (finite) trees, then of course N_K1(T) ? N_K2(T) = 1 for all T∈$\text{F}$. Slightly less trivially, if $\text{F}$ = {S_n: n = 1, 2, 3,…} (where S_n denotes the star on n edges) and $\text{G}$ again is the family of all trees, then Σ_n=1^∞(?1)ⁿ⁺¹N_Sn(T)=1 for all T∈$\text{G}$. It is proved that such a linear dependence can never occur if $\text{F}$ is finite, no F∈$\text{F}$ has an isolated point, and $\text{G}$ contains all trees. This result has important applications in recent work of L. Lovász and one of the authors (Graham and Lovász, to appear).     

An application of L-functions of imaginary quadratic fields

Let F₁(x, y),…, F_2h+1(x, y) be the representatives of equivalent classes of positive definite binary quadratic forms of discriminant ?q (q is a prime such that q ≡ 3 mod 4) with integer coefficients, then the number of integer solutions of F_i(x, y) = n (i = 1,…, 2h + 1) can be calculated for each natural number n using L-functions of imaginary quadratic field $\text{Q}$((?q)^1/2).     

Some Ramsey numbers for directed graphs

Given k directed graphs G₁,…,G_k the Ramsey number R(G₁,…, G_k) is the smallest integer n such that for any partition (U₁,…,U_k) of the arcs of the complete symmetric directed graph K_n, there exists an integer i such that the partial graph generated by U₁ contains G₁ as a subgraph. In the article we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of Ramsey numbers, and, when they exist an upper bound function. We also give exact values for some classes of graphs. Our main result is: $\text{R(}\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{,….}\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{nk-1}}\text{, G) = n}{}_1\text{…n}{}_{\mathrm{k-1}}\text{(p-1) + 1}$, where G is a hamltonian directed graph with p vertices and $\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{n}}{}_{\mathrm{i}}$ denotes the directed path of length n_t     

Characterization of projective graphs

We denote the distance between vertices x and y of a graph by d(x, y), and p_ij(x, y) = ∥ {z : d(x, z) = i, d(y, z) = j} ∥. The (s, q, d)-projective graph is the graph having the s-dimensional subspaces of a d-dimensional vector space over GF(q) as vertex set, and two vertices x, y adjacent iff $\text{dim}\text{(x ? y) = s ? 1}$. These graphs are regular graphs. Also, there exist integers λ and μ > 4 so that μ is a perfect square, p₁₁(x, y) = λ whenever d(x, y) = 1, and p₁₁(x, y) = μ whenever d(x, y) = 2. The (s, q, d)-projective graphs where $\text{2d}\text{3}\text{≤ s < d ? 2}$ and $\text{(s, q, d) ≠ (}\text{2d}\text{3}\text{, 2, d)}$, are characterized by the above conditions together with the property that there exists an integer r satisfying certain inequalities.     

Prime interchange graphs of classes of matrices of zeros and ones

Let R = (r₁,…, r_m) and S = (s₁,…, s_n) be nonnegative integral vectors, and let $\text{U}$(R, S) denote the class of all m × n matrices of 0's and 1's having row sum vector R and column sum vector S. An invariant position of $\text{U}$(R, S) is a position whose entry is the same for all matrices in $\text{U}$(R, S). The interchange graph G(R, S) is the graph where the vertices are the matrices in $\text{U}$(R, S) and where two matrices are joined by an edge provided they differ by an interchange. We prove that when 1 ≤ r_i ≤ n ? 1 (i = 1,…, m) and 1 ≤ s_j ≤ m ? 1 (j = 1,…, n), G(R, S) is prime if and only if $\text{U}$(R, S) has no invariant positions.     

Degree sum and nowhere-zero 3-flows

Let G be a simple graph on n vertices. In this paper, we prove that if G satisfies the condition that d(x)+d(y)≥n for each xy∈E(G), then G has no nowhere-zero 3-flow if and only if G is either one of the five graphs on at most 6 vertices or one of a very special class of graphs on at least 6 vertices.     

A generalization of Turán's theorem to directed graphs

We consider an extremal problem for directed graphs which is closely related to Turán's theorem giving the maximum number of edges in a graph on n vertices which does not contain a complete subgraph on m vertices. For an integer n?2, let T_n denote the transitive tournament with vertex set X_n={1,2,3,…,n} and edge set {(i,j):1?i<j?n}. A subgraph H of T_n is said to be m-locally unipathic when the restriction of H to each m element subset of X_n consisting of m consecutive integers is unipathic. We show that the maximum number of edges in a m-locally unipathic subgraph of T_n is ($\text{q}\text{2}\text{)(m?1)}{}^2\text{+q(m?1)r+?}\text{1}\text{4}\text{r}{}^2\text{?}$ where n= q(m?1+r and $\text{?}\text{1}\text{2}\text{(m?1)??r<?}\text{3}\text{2}\text{(m?1)?}$. As is the case with Turán's theorem, the extremal graphs for our problem are complete multipartite graphs. Unlike Turán's theorem, the part sizes will not be uniform. The proof of our principal theorem rests on a combinatorial theory originally developed to investigate the rank of partially ordered sets.     

Maximization,under equality constraints,of a functional of a probability distribution

Let $\text{F}$ be a family of probability distributions. Let O, C₁…C_n be real functions on $\text{F}$. Let z₁…z_n be real numbers. Then we consider the problem of maximization of the object function O(F)(F?$\text{F}$) under the equality constraints C₁(F)=z₁(i=1,…,n) . The theory is developed in order to solve problems of the following kind: Find the maximal variance of a stop-loss reinsured risk under partial information on the risk such as its range and two first moments.     

An interpolant defined by subdivision and the analysis of the error

Given a set of points x_i, i=0,…,n on [−1,1] and the corresponding values y_i, i=0,…,n of a 2-periodic function y(x), supplied in some way by interpolation or approximation, we describe a simple method that by doubling iteratively this original set, produces in the limit a smooth function. The analysis of the interpolation error is given.We show that if $\text{y∈}\text{C}{}^4$ then the error in the p-norm, $\text{p=1,}\text{2}$ and ∞ depends on the magnitude of the fourth derivative of the function y(x) and on a function α(x) which is even, concave and bounded on [−1,1].     

A new inequality for symmetric functions

Let x_i ≥ 0, y_i ≥ 0 for i = 1,…, n; and let a_j(x) be the elementary symmetric function of n variables given by a_j(x) = ∑_{1 ≤ ii < … <ij ≤ n}x_ii … x_ij. Define the partical ordering x <y if a_j(x) ≤ a_j(y), j = 1,… n. We show that $\text{x}\text{\$}\text{?}\text{y ? x}{}^{\mathrm{\alpha }}\text{\$}\text{?}\text{y}{}^{\mathrm{\alpha }}\text{, 0}\text{\$}\text{?}\text{α ≤ 1}$, where {x^α}_i = x^α_i. We also give a necessary and sufficient condition on a function f(t) such that x <y ? f(x) <f(y). Both results depend crucially on the following: If x <y there exists a piecewise differentiable path z(t), with z_i(t) ≥ 0, such that z(0) = x, z(1) = y, and z(s) <z(t) if 0 ≤ s ≤ t ≤ 1.     

Independence numbers of graphs-an extension of the Koenig-Egervary theorem

Let G be an arbitrary finite, undirected graph with no loops nor multiple edges. In this paper the inequality β₀?n ? β₁ is investigated where β₀ is the independence number of G, n is the number of vertices, and β₁ is the cardinality of a maximum edge matching. The class of graphs for which equality holds is characterized. A polynomially-bounded algorithm is given which tests an arbitrary graph G for equality, and computes a maximum independent set of vertices when equality holds. Equality is “prevented” by the existence of a blossom-pair-a subgraph generated by a certain subset m_i of edges from a maximum edge matching M for G. It is shown that β₀ = n ?β₁?|R| where R is a minimum set oof representatives of the family {m_i} of blossom pair-generating subsets of M. Finally, apolynomially-bonded algorithm is given which partitions an arbitrary graph G into subgraphs G₀, G₁,…, G_q such that $\text{β}{}_0\text{(G) =}\text{∑}\text{i=0}\text{q}\text{β}{}_0\text{(G}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{)}$. Moreover, if arbitrary maximum independent subsets of vertices S₁, S₂,…, S_q are known, then a polynomially-bounded algorithm computes a maximum independent set S₀ for G₀ such that S=∪{S_i; i=0, 1,hellip;,q} is a maximum independent subset for G.     

Decomposability of symmetric multilinear functions

Let V denote a finite dimensional vector space over a field K of characteristic 0, let T_n(V) denote the vector space whose elements are the K-valued n-linear functions on V, and let S_n(V) denote the subspace of T_n(V) whose members are the fully symmetric members of T_n(V). If $\text{L}$_n denotes the symmetric group on {1,2,…,n} then we define the projection $\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>L</mtext>}}\text{: T}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{(V) → S}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{(V)}$ by the formula , where P_σ : T_n(V) → T_n(V) is defined so that P_σ(A)(y₁,y₂,…,y_n = A(y_σ(1),y_σ(2),…,y_σ(n)) for each A?T_n(V) and y_i?V, 1 ? i ? n. If $\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{? V}{}^1\text{, 1 ? i ? n}$, then x₁?x₂? … ?x_n denotes the member of T_n(V) such that $\text{(x}{}_1\text{?x}{}_2\text{· ? ? ?x}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{)(y}{}_1\text{,y}{}_2\text{,…,y}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{) = П}{}^{\mathrm{n}}{}_{\mathrm{i=1}}\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{(y}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{)}$ for each y₁ ,₂,…,y_n in V, and x₁·x₂… x_n denotes $\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>L</mtext>}}\text{(x}{}_1\text{?x}{}_2\text{? … ?x}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{)}$. If B? S_n(V) and there exists $\text{x}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{? V}{}^1\text{, 1 ? i ? n}$, such that B = x₁·x₂…x_n, then B is said to be decomposable. We present two sets of necessary and sufficient conditions for a member B of S_n(V) to be decomposable. One of these sets is valid for an arbitrary field of characteristic zero, while the other requires that K = R or C.     

On the rate for uniform strong consistency of empirical distributions of independent nonidentically distributed multivariate random variables

Let X_j = (X_1j ,…, X_pj), j = 1,…, n be n independent random vectors. For x = (x₁ ,…, x_p) in R^p and for α in [0, 1], let F_j${}^1$(x) = αI(X_1j < x₁ ,…, X_pj < x_p) + (1 ? α) I(X_1j ≤ x₁ ,…, X_pj ≤ x_p), where I(A) is the indicator random variable of the event A. Let F_j(x) = E(F_j${}^1$(x)) and D_n = sup_{x, α} max_{1 ≤ N ≤ n} |Σ₀ⁿ(F_j${}^1$(x) ? F_j(x))|. It is shown that P[D_n ≥ L] < 4pL exp{?2(L²n^?1 ? 1)} for each positive integer n and for all L² ≥ n; and, as n → ∞, $\text{D}{}_{\mathrm{n}}\text{= 0((n}\text{log}\text{n)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}$ with probability one.     

Graphs with small boundary

For a pair of vertices x and y in a graph G, we denote by d_G(x,y) the distance between x and y in G. We call x a boundary vertex of y if x and y belong to the same component and d_G(y,v)?d_G(y,x) for each neighbor v of x in G. A boundary vertex of some vertex is simply called a boundary vertex, and the set of boundary vertices in G is called the boundary of G, and is denoted by B(G).In this paper, we investigate graphs with a small boundary. Since a pair of farthest vertices are boundary vertices, |B(G)|?2 for every connected graph G of order at least two. We characterize the graphs with boundary of order at most three. We cannot give a characterization of graphs with exactly four boundary vertices, but we prove that such graphs have minimum degree at most six. Finally, we give an upper bound to the minimum degree of a connected graph G in terms of |B(G)|.     

Diophantine problems in variables restricted to the values 0 and 1

Let $\text{F}$x₁,…,x_s be a form of degree d with integer coefficients. How large must s be to ensure that the congruence $\text{F}$(x₁,…,x_s) ≡ 0 (mod m) has a nontrivial solution in integers 0 or 1? More generally, if $\text{F}$ has coefficients in a finite additive group G, how large must s be in order that the equation $\text{F}$(x₁,…,x_s) = 0 has a solution of this type? We deal with these questions as well as related problems in the group of integers modulo 1 and in the group of reals.     

Vertex pancyclicity and new sufficient conditions

For a graph G, ??(G) denotes the minimum degree of G. In 1971, Bondy proved that, if G is a 2-connected graph of order n and d(x)?+?d(y)????n for each pair of non-adjacent vertices x,y in G, then G is pancyclic or G?=?K _n/2,n/2. In 2001, Xu proved that, if G is a 2-connected graph of order n????6 and |N(x)????N(y)|?+???(G)????n for each pair of non-adjacent vertices x,y in G, then G is pancyclic or G?=?K _n/2,n/2. In this paper, we introduce a new sufficient condition of generalizing degree sum and neighborhood union and prove that, if G is a 2-connected graph of order n????6 and |N(x)????N(y)|?+?d(w)????n for any three vertices x,y,w of d(x,y)?=?2 and wx or $wy\not\in E(G)$ in G, then G is 4-vertex pancyclic or G belongs to two classes of well-structured exceptional graphs. This result also generalizes the above results.     

Comparability graphs and intersection graphs

A function diagram (f-diagram) D consists of the family of curves {$\text{1}\text{?}$ñ} obtained from n continuous functions $\text{f}{}_{\mathrm{i}}\text{:[0,1]→}\text{R}\text{(1?i?n)}$. We call the intersection graph of D a function graph (f-graph). It is shown that a graph G is an f-graph if and only if its complement ? is a comparability graph. An f-diagram generalizes the notion of a permulation diagram where the f_i are linear functions. It is also shown that G is the intersection graph of the concatenation of ?k permutation diagrams if and only if the partial order dimension of $\text{G}\text{?}\text{is ?k+1}$. Computational complexity results are obtained for recognizing such graphs.